Munich - Bayern Munich have already made contact with Louis van Gaal about succeeding Juergen Klinsmann as coach of Bayern Munich coach, the club's general manager Uli Hoeness has revealed.

"Van Gaal is one of the candidates we have in mind," Hoeness confirmed in Saturday's edition of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Van Gaal, 57, led AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch title this season and has already been given the stamp of approval by Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer.

"He has shown this on several occasions - at the Dutch national team, Barcelona or Ajax Amsterdam," Beckenbauer told the DSF sports network Friday.

Van Gaal, 57, was on Thursday named top of a list of Munich candidates by German sports magazine Kicker.

Munich sacked Klinsmann on Monday and have hired Jupp Heynckes to take charge for the final five games of the season. Munich lie third, three points behind leaders Wolfsburg, in a tight title race and want to at least reach the Champions League.

A new coach will be hired for the next season, and Beckenbauer said that Munich won't rush to a decision.

"We went through a list of coaches early in the week, narrowed it down relatively quickly, and now we are making contact. We will see what will come out of this over the next weeks," said Beceknbauer.

Beckenbauer also suggested that former Munich player Christian Nerlinger could take over as general manager when Hoeness leaves that post after 30 years at the end of the year - likely to inherit the club presidency from Beckenbauer.

"He is very close to the team and may take over the position of team manager in the future," said Beckenbauer.

Beckenbauer said that Hoeness' job will likely be divided up between several people because no one could replace him adequately. (dpa)